There first hearing for the request ofappeal to the CAT from Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard against the blockade imposed by the CMA will be held today and will also be broadcast in livestream, through the official website of the court in question.
The preliminary conference will take place through Microsoft Teams, rather ironically: the start time is set for 15:00 today, May 30, 2023according to Italian time and it will be possible to follow it live through the link that will be provided about 10 minutes before the start on the catribunal.org.uk site, so keep an eye on it if you are interested in the matter.
Today’s hearing is likely to serve only as a introduction to the case, with a possible planning of subsequent meetings and the presentation of the matter, but could already reserve some interested information on the continuation of the legal dispute.
We recall that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have appealed to the CAT, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, against the decision taken by the British CMA to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft due to the risk of monopoly in the field of cloud gaming.
Announcing its intention to appeal, Microsoft also reported that the CMA would have made errors of assessment in its study of the case, so it will be necessary to see how the CAT will accept this request. If the request were accepted, the case would still return to the hands of the CMA, which would have to re-examine the acquisition but not necessarily come to different conclusions, we’ll see.
